2012.01.06

Missed Opportunities and Pide

You certainly wouldn't call Saray the friendliest pide salonu in Turkey. When we walked in, hungry after a morning of shopping on empty stomachs for edible souvenirs like rough bulgur pasta and split fava beans, the owner looked up from behind his desk and fixed us with an unsmiling stare, heaved a deep sigh and went back to his newspaper.

But the place smelled good, too good to walk back out of, like yeast and browning meat and cheese melting under a grill. A welcoming warmth (the weather had turned overnight; the previous day's harmless puffy clouds were now charcoal gray and what had been a cool breeze had morphed into a cutting wind hinting at snow) emanated from the wood oven on the back wall. And pide, lots and lots of pide were being made.

So we ignored the owner's diffidence and grabbed a couple of seats. A delivery order of 90-plus pide was being assembled on the table behind us. We took this as an encouraging sign.

It was our last morning in Tokat, a town in the southern reaches of Turkey's mid-Black Sea region that doesn't see a lot of tourists but should. Not necessarily because of its beauty -- Tokat is your average Anatolian town -- or because of its sights, which are relatively few, but because of its welcoming populace. When you first arrive Tokat feels closed and conservative. Give it half a day and the city opens its arms wide.

Regrets brought us back to Tokat, which we first visited eleven years ago. On that trip, in which we'd driven from the Mediterranean city of Antalya to Camlihemsin on the Black Sea, we'd squeezed too much into too little time. We hadn't yet learned to make room for serendipity by scheduling in plenty of slack days or to be willing to jetison a planned destination if a tempting alternative intervened.

That trip we met a smart, funny 16-year-old who walked us around town and invited us to his high school to sort-of teach an English class. The next morning we went and had a blast. All the kids wanted to invite us home for dinner. If we hadn't been so insistent on getting to Amasya before we hit Trabzon before we visited Camlihemsin we'd have enjoyed a dozen home-cooked meals in a dozen Tokat homes over the next few days. Instead we took to the road shortly after the class.

Stupid, stupid. STUPID.

This time around we half hoped we'd bump into our young friend, perhaps married now. Surely he'd recognize us (we yabanci don't all look alike, do we?) even if we probably wouldn't recognize him. That didn't happen of course, but we're nonetheless glad that the memory of meeting him all those years ago lured us back. On that first trip Tokat intrigued us. It still does. We know we'll return soon.

Tokat may not be beautiful in the way that Istanbul is. But it is ruggedly handsome, ringed by rocky crags and real mountains further out; from high up the views are dramatic. Kids climb around on those crags after school, and shepherds tend sheep.

There's a crumbling castle too, and stone-paved streets that wind uphill from the bustling "modern" main street. This is Old Tokat, an area of wood-frame brick houses and mansions. Some bear massive double timber doors with a pattern of two side-by-side "Z"s, one flipped in the reverse. Everyone acknowledges this pattern is a Tokat thing, but no one could tell us how or why it came to be.

Agricultural land laps at Tokat's edges and in autumn strings of drying vegetables and fruit festoon windows and walls and women in the Old City, many of whom belong to families who work their own farms, gather on a raised concrete slab at the upper reaches of the neighborhood, where they turn stalks of wheat into wheat berries and bulgur.

Tokat boasts a wonderful twice-a-week market with a koy section where village women sell pekmez and cheese and huge piles of herbs foraged in the hills. And craftsmen making saddles and harnesses by hand and blacksmiths who still pound shoes for horses and donkeys.

In Tokat everyone has time to talk; Dave and I must have drunk gallons of tea between us during dozens of conversations with Tokat-ans on everything from home cooking to the layout of traditional Tokat houses.

So by Day Three, our last day, we felt a warm friendly glow that enabled us to ignore the non-welcome from Saray's owner. We ordered our pides and a couple of chopped salads and admired Saray's lavender and yellow color scheme while we waited for our food.

Which was exceptional, really. There are pide and then there are pide and these pide bore the imprint of years of experience, good ingredients and a master's control of the wood-fired oven.

One arrived oozing scallion-flecked cheese, another spilling tender lamb minced with onion, tomato and long green chilies. Upper crusts were slicked with butter, bottoms were lightly scorched from the hot stones. Every bite held crispness and chewiness and the flavor of good fresh wheat came through. Indifferent ownership or not, we'll return to Saray.

After lunch we left town with regret, though this time it wasn't the sort of regret that comes from missed opportunities.

It's a coincidence that I was just thinking about where to go for this summer holiday, I think Turkey is the destination this time round! How long do you think Istanbul needs to do most of the tourist things and experience the local culture? Are there any other regions apart from Istanbul you recommend in Turkey?
:)

That pide looks so simple yet so delicious. Great story about visiting the school and 'sort of' teaching the kids. Such a love/hate relationship with Americans/Westerners we've noticed. I totally understand why but when it's on the 'not so much love' side, the weight of our country's past (and present) actions feel like a burden to carry around sometimes.

I haven't travelled for a while but I have great memories of spontaneous variations in itinerary that led to experiences you could never book in advance. The pide looks so mouth-wateringly good I feel like having it for lunh today! : D

Hi Vivi -- too much to tell you in one comment! You could easily give Istanbul a week. We've probably spent a total of 3 months there over the years and whenever we go back we still discover things. It's an absolutely captivating city -- but be forewarned that it gets really hot and sticky in the summer. As for other parts of Turkey ... I really like the southeast, Gaziantep is a wonderful food city (home of baklava, need I say more) and the ancient city of Mardin is really beautiful. I also like the Black Sea coast though it could be clogged with tourists in the summer. If you go early June shouldn't be too bad. Kars and surrounds are also incredibly beautiful, the city has an interesting history and the deserted medieval Armenian city of Ani is within spitting distance. If you're into nature/wetlands that sort of thing Kars would make a wonderful contrast to Istanbul.

Snippets -- yes, very true. I've felt that as well. Very happy memories of travelling in Indonesia shortly after Obama was elected. Everyone had nothing but thumbs-up for Americans. And not-so-nice memory of being berated for being an American at a market in Alba, Piedmont early in the Irq war.

Erod, I'm just going to put in on the line and say you may have lived in Turkey but you must not have gotten out much. There is fantastic food all over Turkey and we should know, we've been traveling intensively there for years. You need to get beyond the kebab shops, man.

Had the privilege of spending a week in Istanbul in Sept. Totally loved it...the sights, the people, and the food. I do want to go back and see other cities. I actually found some of the food quite spicey ( I am of Malaysian background) and totally yummy!

Wow, great post and great pictures! Those pides looks soo good. These are my favorite by the way, I love karadeniz pidesi that are narrower and more moist than regular pides (however now that I live in Beijing I would settle for any KEBAP 49 pide as well!). I love that in the black sea they also usually serve you a "salad" of red onion and parsley laced with tons of sumak (personnaly I'd skip the parsley! I never understood the turkish and middle eastern obcession with parsley specifically flat leaf parsley).
As for Erod's comment, I don't understand how he/she can find turkish food bland. They use so many different spices such as all spice, cumin, fennel, coriander, pepper pastes, and also so much fresh vegetables...Hey maybe he or she is Greek!!!

Wonderful post! Travelled all over Turkey but have never been to the Black Sea region. As my grandmother is from Odessa on the other side of the sea, I'm dreaming of doing a loop around it one day. Great piece! I can taste the pide.

Chris, I think you could explore Istanbul for 2-3 months and not see it all. But yes, there's much beyond to explore too!

Hi Maya -- Truthfully I try to stay away from pide until at least the end of a Turkey trip, otherwise I'll be stuffing my face with it at every turn. I love it with kasar cheese. Or, really, any old way.

Shanti, Istanbul is incomparably beautiful. All the cliches are true. But yes, there's more to Turkey (that said we make time for Istanbul on every trip).

Thank you Hulya! Yes, the Black Sea region is incredible.

Thanks so much Lara. What an epic journey that would be, and I'd love to see what you write about it. (Family history on the Black Sea? I see a book in that.)

Your pictures are mouthwatering and inspirational. One look and my wife and I are now considering traveling to a part of the world we never had previously considered. We will salute you with the first bite of pide. Thanks!